Warlock Apprentice, Black Lake Novel 4

Chapter Nineteen

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We all glared, unmovin’. The cabin was a mess. Little of the roof remained. Smoke continued to billow out. On the bright side, there appeared to be no live flames.

“Why didn’t it completely burn down?” I asked no one in particular.

“I managed to suffocate the flames,” Selene murmured.

Wow. He could do that? Pretty cool. Oh, that marvelous food set out on the hearth. Would it be edible still? My stomach growled, and I patted it, as though consolin’ a pal.

The four of us continued to stare.

Forlorn is an understatement, for how the place looked. Never more than a shack, a shack half torched is indeed a sad sight.

“Imagine we can clean it up,” I said half under my breath, not eager to undertake that task. Strikin’ new logs and shingles might be easier. Fresh woodchips might be less irritatin’ than ash. The breathin’ would be easier. Oh, man. “My beautiful backpack,” I whined, and strode for the door.

I bent low to get under the remainin’ cloud of smoke, pulled my shirt to cover my nose and mouth to breathe through. Blinkin’ my waterin’ eyes, I conceded that at least the missin’ ceilin’ improved the visibility, though the steppin’ was rough.

Selene and I had left our packs and bedrolls against the far wall that mornin’. They looked in one piece, collectively speakin’. I grabbed what I could and hurried for the exit, holdin’ my breath. Outside, Selene relieved me of what I collected, and pushed me back for another trip.

“Sure. Thanks,” I mumbled.

Why should they get rank from the smoke? Leave it for the lowly apprentice. I returned a third time to collect Morgan’s pack, which I had to drag. The thin’ weighed a ton. Did he collect rocks in the thin’?

“Good job,” Morgan said, throttlin’ my back.

I groaned, and coughed. Imagined an invisible cloud billowin’ out my lungs. “Selene’s bow is a crisp, as is his cape. Yar bed furs stank to the high heaven, Morgan, like a singed skunk hide.”

The ogre shrugged. His snout twitched, as though he could smell it from here. Prolly could. I had been reminded more than once that ogre kind is blessed with an extraordinary sense of smell. Like elf hearin’.

“So, we sleep under the stars tonight,” Selene mumbled.

“Unless ya want to sleep in there,” Morgan said.

“I didn’t want to sleep in there before,” Louisa hissed, “when I knew I’d have to share it with three idjit bulls.” She grunted into her pack. “Do we head for the Hamlet?”

“We’d be endangering more innocents,” Selene said softly.

“Ha,” Morgan barked. “The dragons will allow no harm to come to theirs.”

So said Taiz’lin. That would be no shallow threat.

“But Blake and his mates could do enough mischief.” Selene jerked his head toward the smolderin’ cabin.

“Aye,” Morgan said, peerin’ down. “This is our battle anyhow, not theirs. But isn’t yars,” he said turnin’ to Louisa.

“Not my business. That what ya sayin’, ya stubborn bull?”

“Aye. Get on with yarself to the Inn. Be safe.”

“Didn’t I prove myself handy?” Louisa asked.

“We were simply lucky,” Selene blurted, as Morgan said, “I’ll have no hen puttin’ her life in danger for me.”

“Mates stand side-by-side,” she said.

Did she mean the generic mate, as in friends, or the mate like— My cheeks warmed. Becomin’ mates is a bit different with ogres, someone told me. Had they gone before their council for a blessin’? Think that woulda been talked about; maybe woulda been mentioned when the whole apprenticin’ had been discussed the other day on the Inn’s balcony.

“As it is, while we stand here blatherin’, I should be stalkin’ those wizards alone,” Morgan shouted at her. “Selene’s an adult, he can choose—”

“Ya suggestin’ I’m no adult?”

“Be reasonable, hen.”

“Don’t ya trust me to watch yar back?”

“Hen! Don’t go talkin’ nonsense now.”

I noticed Selene drop his chin low, shook his head. Maybe even closed his eyes. He was hearin’ somethin’ in their argument I wasn’t hearin’.

“Ya callin’ me ignert?”

I grimaced. Selene was right. The ogre wasn’t makin’ it any better for himself. Selene’s expression still painted his face, a pained one, as though he wished to plough his face into his hands. He knelt as the two ogres continued to argue, tied his bedroll onto his pack, which he slid into. He walked toward the woods, and I opted to follow him. Morgan and Louisa’s voices rose louder every second. We two humans rushed to put some space between us and the two ogres.

By the time Selene and I stopped, the clearin’ was out of sight, but I could still hear the shoutin’ through the trees. I sighed and leaned against a pine. The minutes passed, until the far argument stopped abruptly. I jerked, a momentary pain strikin’ my temple. The tic gripped my spine.

“What’s wrong?” Selene asked.

We both looked down at Selene’s ring, which hung as naturally on his hand as any rich man’s ring. No glow. Did that mean the three wizards weren’t near? If so, that was good news. But what startled me? I shook my head, as though erasin’ a thought.

But had it been majic?

What else could it be?

The rustle of leaves a moment later announced Morgan approached. The steps continued too long, startlin’ me. Was the majic business makin’ me more observant, sharpenin’ my senses? So much to learn. To imagine.

Morgan eased out of the gloom, face wrinkled in irritation.

Selene hitched back his head a tad. “What happened to you?”

Blood trickled from the ogre’s cheek. A red mark, what would surely become a bruise, trailed across the side of his face and underneath his dreadlocks. The ogre swung the tall bow briskly at his side. I imagined the hen swingin’ the thing as hard as she could at Morgan’s head.

The ogre needed to learn to duck. A strike from the hefty bow from Louisa prolly could have taken off a man’s head.

“Ya got a plan?” Morgan half-shouted.

“I’m often told, my head enjoys remaining empty,” Selene said, not trying to hide his humor.

“What’s so funny?” Morgan growled.

Again with the growlin’. Do ogres ever tire of it?

Morgan stamped Bacchus hard. I grimaced, expectin’ the shaft of pain up my spine. It struck a moment later. Like it was teasin’ me.

“Stalk ’em, take a stand here, or force ’em to come to us?” Morgan asked.

I said, “I’ve heard a good defense is a—”

“Hold yar tongue, lad,” Morgan snapped.

The three of us remained quiet a ten-count.

“I don’t favor wandering the woods with three wizards wishing us harm,” Selene said slowly.

“Before I completed my cabin,” Morgan said, “I stayed in an old troll mine shaft nearby. Will easily accommodate the three of us. Keep the cold dew off our heads in the mornin’, block the breeze. More importantly, no one will be sneakin’ up on us.”

“Works for me,” Selene answered. “Lead the way.”

Morgan strode away, leavin’ the two of us to trot to catch up. In less than five minutes, we approached a fifteen-foot-high cliff juttin’ out of the Earth. With the sun well on its trek for the horizon, the shadows were deep, so I didn’t at first see our destination. The openin’ bent inward, leavin’ just an appearance of a crag until we were within ten feet.

Morgan traipsed through the entrance of the shaft without slowin’ down. Selene and I followed him into the black, hands outstretched. My eyes adjusted after a long moment, and the damp walls glistened.

I turned my head to listen as the constant background whisper of the forest faded, replaced by the chime of water skippin’ over rock. Our footsteps, even the soft fall of the ogre’s bare feet, echoed off the granite walls.

I picked my steps carefully. Chest tightened. Swallowed, unnerved by the eeriness of the blackness, seemin’ to lose the ability to determine up from askance.

A roar froze me in my tracts, and a second later Selene rammed into me at a full, back-steppin’ run. My feet didn’t keep up with me and I tumbled backward. The air was crushed out of my lungs as my back struck the hard, wet granite floor and Selene landed on top of me.

A blood curdlin’ scream five inches from my ears almost made me wet myself. Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. Could have been from the trickle of water snakin’ along the floor of the shaft. Selene’s arms thrashed, his legs kicked, the sleeve of his sword clattered against stone. I felt another form strike Selene, as a pitched scream echoed around us, followed by an even angrier one.

A feline roar.

The rank aroma of a wild thing.

A dang cougar!

Morgan had scared a frightened mountain lion right into us. Couldn’t he have warned us, at least?

Selene thrashed for another three-count, until he was no doubt convinced the animal was gone.

“Ya okay?” I asked.

“Hell no I’m not all right. A lion just ran me over. Lucky he didn’t rip my throat out.”

I couldn’t help myself. Despite the weight still lyin’ on top of me, a rollin’ guffaw gripped me.

“Not funny! Not funny!” Selene shouted, strugglin’ to unwind from my limbs. “Shut up, or I’ll take that smile off your face in a manner you’ll find less pleasing.”

But Morgan’s baritone laughter intensified mine.

Selene gave me a rude kick in the calf. His silhouette lunged, as though pushin’ at the massive ogre. A moment later Morgan’s laugh moved further inside the mine shaft. I managed my laughter enough to get to my feet.

“Shut up,” Selene mumbled.

“Ya screamed like a lil’ girl.” My laugh turned into a giggle.

“Just keep it up, and you’ll pay.”

I tried to catch my high breath, but it felt as though a daemon had kicked me in the gut. I sighed, and stumbled after Selene.

A moment later I grimaced at a sudden light. Bacchus’ ram-carved head glowed as brightly as a torch. Why didn’t the ogre think of that earlier?

Fifty feet in, the miners must have hit a promisin’ patch of rock and chiseled a chamber twenty feet tall. It stretched fifteen feet left and right, continued on into the blackness, but evidently we were stoppin’. Terraces stepped up on both sides of the center trough where we could stay dry, and sleep. Wood sat piled five feet high on the right. Evidently Morgan kept the place ready for this kind of visit.

“You walked in here knowing that cat was here, didn’t you?” Selene asked.

Morgan shook his head as he leaned Bacchus against the shaft wall, and shirked out of his pack. “If I’d known a cat was in here, I would have invited ya to lead the way.”

“Funny.”

I worked hard to clamp down on a new giggle.

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